Similarities Between Sacco And Vanzetti
Vanzetti’s Innocence In the American criminal justice system, one of our most sacred principles is that everyone is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in every essential element of the crime. The case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti is a very important case where the ruling has become very controversial. In this case both Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty however with the recent expansion of technology it is believed that maybe Vanzetti is innocent after all. Sacco and Vanzetti, who were Italian immigrants, were executed in the state of Massachusetts in 1927 for the double murders of Frederick Parmenter and Alessandro Berardelli. When they were arrested two weeks after the murders took place they were both
…show more content…
This bigotry was obvious to Sacco and Vanzetti from the beginning of their trials. Vanzetti was first asked why he thought he was being held because of his politics. He simply replied, “Because the first thing [the police] asked me is if I was an anarchist, communist or socialist.” Sacco was also badgered by prosecutors as to why he dodged the draft rather than fight in WWI (Socialist Worker). Their beliefs and past actions made them easy for the public to accuse. One piece of evidence that has been in question was the ballistics evidence. New ballistics tests conducted with modern equipment in 1961 proved conclusively that the pistol found on Sacco at the time of arrest had been used to murder the guard. This means that Sacco was guilty and that Vanzetti may have not been one of the shooters at all (“The Sacco-Vanzetti Case”). Vanzetti also had an alibi. Of all the witnesses to the crime no one was able to place Vanzetti at the scene of the crime. While it was hard to positively identify the driver of the get-away car, one witness said they believed the driver had light colored hair, Vanzetti has dark hair. Vanzetti testified that he was “selling fish in Plymouth” at the time of the crime (Linder). He was 25 miles away from where the crime took place. Six witnesses testified that they saw Vanzetti in Plymouth near the time of the crime, however their testimonies were disregarded since some of these witnesses were friends with
This bigotry was obvious to Sacco and Vanzetti from the beginning of their trials. Vanzetti was first asked why he thought he was being held because of his politics. He simply replied, “Because the first thing [the police] asked me is if I was an anarchist, communist or socialist.” Sacco was also badgered by prosecutors as to why he dodged the draft rather than fight in WWI (Socialist Worker). Their beliefs and past actions made them easy for the public to accuse. One piece of evidence that has been in question was the ballistics evidence. New ballistics tests conducted with modern equipment in 1961 proved conclusively that the pistol found on Sacco at the time of arrest had been used to murder the guard. This means that Sacco was guilty and that Vanzetti may have not been one of the shooters at all (“The Sacco-Vanzetti Case”). Vanzetti also had an alibi. Of all the witnesses to the crime no one was able to place Vanzetti at the scene of the crime. While it was hard to positively identify the driver of the get-away car, one witness said they believed the driver had light colored hair, Vanzetti has dark hair. Vanzetti testified that he was “selling fish in Plymouth” at the time of the crime (Linder). He was 25 miles away from where the crime took place. Six witnesses testified that they saw Vanzetti in Plymouth near the time of the crime, however their testimonies were disregarded since some of these witnesses were friends with